New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is responding to criticism from some New York attorneys over the lack of Jewish representation on his judicial panel.<\/p>\n
The mayor has final say over which judges will preside over city courtrooms, but an 18-member advisory committee vets and nominates judges. Last week, Mamdani unveiled<\/a> who will serve on his advisory panel.<\/p>\n Attorney Elizabeth Forspan, along with other Jewish legal professionals, have sent a joint letter to the mayor expressing their disappointment over the lack of Jewish representation on the committee.<\/p>\n “In a city with such a high population of not just Jews, but Jewish lawyers, I find it hard to believe that there was not one Jewish former lawyer or law professor or law school dean, former judge who was qualified for this position,” Forspan said.<\/p>\n She calls it not only disappointing, but concerning.<\/p>\n “There is a high level of anxiety in the Jewish community in New York now, and this does not make people feel any better,” she said.<\/p>\n Forspan noted the judges nominated by this panel will preside over hate crimes, including anti-Jewish hate crimes, which are up 2% so far this year compared to last \u2013 highlighted last week by the stabbing<\/a> of a Jewish man outside a synagogue on the Upper West Side.<\/p>\n “Jewish New Yorkers deserve to know that their elected leaders value their safety, their voices, and their place in our city’s institutions,” the attorneys wrote in their letter.\u00a0<\/p>\n The mayor responded to the criticism Wednesday, saying that he did not ask for the religion of committee candidates.<\/p>\n “In my six months of being the mayor, I’ve had the privilege of appointing a dozen qualified judges from a range of backgrounds, including Jewish judges,” he said. “I want to be clear that any suggestion that the composition of the advisory committee was motivated by religion is false.”<\/p>\n It is unknown how many Jewish candidates may have been considered for these positions.<\/p>\n The letter did name one retired judge who was rejected. The mayor said his office rejected that candidate because he had previously served on Ghislaine Maxwell’s legal defense team.<\/p>\n \n More from CBS News\n <\/p>\n